DEADPOOL
A vulgar action adventure that is not worth your time.
Should You Watch It?
DEADPOOL has a few elements that work. Wade Wilson’s snarky attitude and his breaking of the fourth wall are mildly interesting, and the action has occasional excitement. The movie also offers a love story centered on Wade’s desire to save his girlfriend.
But those elements are buried under gratuitous sex, violence, and vulgarity. The jokes are repetitive and rarely rise above simplistic sexual references. Wade is a murderous, foul-mouthed mercenary, and the film’s lawlessness and debauchery overwhelm any suggestion of heroism.
The entertainment value does not justify the content. You should skip it.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESWade Wilson is a foul-mouthed, murderous former special-forces soldier who works as a mercenary. After falling in love with Vanessa and learning that he has cancer throughout his body, Wade agrees to undergo experimental mutation treatments.
The process gives him super abilities but badly scars his body. Taking the masked identity of Deadpool, Wade sets out to capture the man responsible and return to Vanessa. Meanwhile, two X-Men members try to recruit him and change his ways.
Is It Any Good?
Three stars means DEADPOOL has some mildly interesting entertainment value, but its weaknesses dominate. The snarky attitude and fourth-wall-breaking are initially engaging, and the action has moments of excitement.
The plot is mediocre at best. The fourth-wall jokes become overused and tiresome, while the humor remains repetitive and largely dependent on vulgar sexual references. The contrived stakes surrounding Wade’s appearance also feel superficial. Overall, it is an unsatisfying movie despite its occasional energy.
The Worldview
DEADPOOL presents a very strong pagan worldview that extols lawlessness, murder, and other forms of debauchery. The movie’s central character kills bad guys but refuses to be labeled a superhero, and the film contains little that is conventionally heroic beyond his effort to save his girlfriend.
The film also stands against the values celebrated by Marvel’s other movies, according to the source review. One X-Men character provides a limited counterpoint by rebuking some foul language and turning away when a female villain’s breasts are exposed, but that does not change the movie’s overall celebration of vulgarity and lawlessness.
This departs sharply from a biblical view of human behavior. Scripture says, “Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth” (1 Corinthians 13:6).
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Content Summary
Very strong pagan worldview extolling lawlessness, murder and all other forms of debauchery; one X-Men character is proper and rebukes some foul language and when a female villains breasts are exposed, the hero Colossus turns away until she fixes her shirt; nearly 100 obscenities (including over 60+ utterances of the F-word), seven profanities and a multitude of vulgar references to male and female anatomy; very strong gratuitous violence with bad guys getting shot, stabbed, cut in half, decapitated, and killed in many other ways, Deadpool cuts off his own hand in one instance, scenes of torture, main character is stabbed in the head and all his hands and legs broken, with many instances of blood splatter and gore; very strong sexual content, a montage of the main character’s sexual hedonism with his girlfriend includes depicted fornication, oral sex, sodomy, and many other sexual references, characters make up tragic childhood stories of molestation played for jokes, implied self abuse; full female nudity in a scene taking place in a strip club with pole dancers and provocatively dressed waitresses, brief frontal male nudity, brief female nudity in sex scene, upper and rear male nudity; moderate drinking; no smoking or drugs; and, lying, deception, kidnapping and murder encouraged, and disrespect for the elderly and the blind.
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
The film presents lawlessness, murder, and debauchery as central features of its worldview. What does Scripture say about the works of the flesh, and how should that shape our entertainment choices?
Galatians 5:19–21 · Philippians 4:8Wade’s love for Vanessa is presented as one of the movie’s few positive elements. How does biblical love differ from love shaped by sexual hedonism?
1 Corinthians 13:4–7 · Ephesians 5:1–3One X-Men character rebukes some foul language, but the movie continues to rely on it. How should Christians think about speech that is treated as comedy?
Ephesians 4:29 · Colossians 3:8The Final Word
DEADPOOL has some mildly interesting action and a distinctive comic attitude, but its extreme vulgarity, sexual content, graphic violence, and celebration of lawlessness overwhelm those merits. For your time and conscience, SKIP IT. For better options, see.
